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18:00
What’s a keyhole garden?
» Black Looks “Lesotho cannot wait for the UN food summit in Rome to come up with ideas, so it has developed some of its own. Mahaha Mphou does not know much about global economics, but she does know how to grow vegetables. She and the rest of her family of 10 have become some of the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "What's a keyhole garden?", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/whats_a_keyhole_garden.html" }); -
The road to happiness is long - could be thousands of miles, if you persevere you may get there, BUT
» Black Looks Perils of lies will await you on the roadside, watch your front and back, turn sideways and round in a circle. Look to the sky, this is the home of ancestors with their eyes of ten thousand splendid suns watching over you. Beware of “enemies” in the shape of “friends”, you [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The road to happiness is long - could be thousands of miles, if you persevere you may get there, BUT", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/the_road_to_happiness_is_long_-_could_be_thousands_of_miles_if_you_persevere_you_may_get_there_but.html" }); -
UGANDAN HOMOSEXUALS RESPOND TO INFLAMMATORY REMARKS BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE UGANDAN AIDS COMMISSION
» Black Looks This Monday, 2nd June, 2008 the Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), was widely quoted by international media saying “Gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time,” We would like to point out: * 26 years since the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: " Ugandan homosexuals respond to inflammatory remarks by Ugandan Aids Commission", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/_ugandan_homosexuals_respond_to_inflammatory_remarks_by_the_director_general_of_the_ugandan_aids_commission.html" });
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16:27
Dinner For One - One Trillion Dollars
» For Love and Money Dinner For One - One Trillion Dollars
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12:28 U.N. examines racism in Washington, DC and USA
» Marian's Blog This week high-level UN staffer Doudou Diene completes his whirlwind three-week visit to the United States. Apparently he's been here following up on pesky reports of racism, racial discrimination and the like. One only hopes white supremacy and its activities...
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12:04
Is African Writing Really That Bad? Some Ideas For Being a Good Writer
» The Displaced African 
First of all, if you are an immigrant of high school age and you are reading this welcome. As I often say, I wish this was the blog I wish I had found, or at least something similar, when I first showed up in an Australian high school so anything I can do to make you feel at home let me know.
Compositions
As a lot of you know I grew up in the city in the sun, Nairobi, Kenya. All throughout my primary school days, Stnadard 1 - 8, one thing remained consistent: I was one of the best composition writers. For those who don’t know, compositions are basically short fictional stories which were assessed by the English teacher.
The Rules of Writing Compositions in Kenya
The rules to writing a composition in Kenya were quite simple really:
a) Use language that is as flowery,complex and grandiloquent (but do I say?) as possible.
b) Use metaphors, similies, proverbs and other linguistic tools that show you have read a book or two in your life more than you use regular language.
If you managed to follow the above two rules and piece together a somewhat coherent narrative, you were good to go.
The Story That Got Told Over and Over Again
Towards my final years of primary school, we used to write compositions quite a lot. When it was all said and done however, I realized that I had told the same story over and over and over again.
I was attacked by a crazy/large/robber/stupid man and I somehow had to fight to survive.
In spite of the fact that Mrs. C (who by the way called herself a very “Hot Naabaa,” not hot number, “Hot Naabaa”, much love and thanks Mrs. C if you are reading this.) read the same story so many times, each time I managed to twist it into a slightly different version of something worth giving a high mark.
As a Result
All this basically meant that I left Primary school with the medal for English around my neck and a perfect score in English once the main exams came (how that happened, I don’t know, but I don’t kick a gift horse in the mouth).
My Kenyan High School Career…….
My Kenyan high school career was somewhat different. I went from being one of the brightest minds in primary school to having the intelligence of a mutilated cinder block. I thought this had affected me in many areas, science, maths etc etc but somehow I held on to the belief that I was still a good writer.
A Plane Ride Later My World Came a Crumbling Down
Australian high schools typically don’t involve a lot of creative writing and so it wasn’t until Year 12 that I had to write a story to show to my English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher. The little ditty began like this:
I threw the stone as quick as lightning and it hit him with a blood curdling thud! As the blood leaked profusely from his eye, he let out a great big bellow like a wounded she-bear. And then he cast his gaze upon me, and as I looked into his eyes, they glowed with the malevolence of a dyeing ember (stolen expression that I used A LOT)
I galloped over to Mrs G., my ESL teacher (much love to you too, if you are reading this) and Mrs. G didn’t even bother mincing her words:
This story is terrible, it’s such a cliche!
An African Description of What Happened Next
My heart sunk lower than the Titanic. My breathing stopped and my heart began to beat at a million miles per hour.
“How could she think that was terrible,” I mused….as I perused……confused…….feeling somewhat abused
Creative Writing Class 2006
Needless to say I put a lot of writing activities on the shelf for the next few years trading creative writing for creating feasibility studies, marketing plans and business manifestos. And then in 2006 I did something I probably shouldn’t have done: I did only one subject for a whole University semester: creative writing.
I Loved It
What I realized was that, Western writing had long since passed the point of using cliched metaphors, proverbs and similies. We were literally teaching and being taught the left overs of Western thinking.
Twelve weeks of Creative writing and never did we have lessons on the proper use of a similie, or where to sprinkle in clever sounding proverbs. Instead we learned things like the lesson I’ll share with you below:
Ice Berg Writing
Whenever you write, your words should only express 10% of what’s going on with the other 90% being left beneath the surface in sub-text. In other words, the prose should only be the tip of the iceberg. An example:
The lipstick red dress continued to saunter and shimmy long after Nicole had stopped gliding across the room.
“Excuse me sir,” she purred ,” The Johnsons are here!”
“Thank you, Marta,” he barked from behind clenched cheeks.
“You are very welcome sir. Do you need anything else from me?”
” No, you may leave!”
And Sade crooned in the background as she smoothly operated her way out of that room.
He let out a sigh and prepared himself…….the Johnsons were here!
Well, I am not that good at iceberg writing but clearly there are quite a few things that one can infer from the above, including the character’s personalities and relationships to each other.
It’s more fun for one to infer these things in one’s mind than for me to blatantly say she dressed up to seduce her boss and she was making her boss very uncomfortable.
Is There a Point to All This?
The point of all this, is simple really. Realize if you are coming from Africa, that the way we were taught to write is based on a way of writing that Westerners have long since left behind.
Why This is Great for You
This is great for you because in its place Westerners now have an absolute love and appreciation for the individual voice in a piece of writing. They want to hear what you, the authentic, uncensored you has to say.
In Creative writing class, I wrote a ridiculous number of stories about sex and romance because that’s what I thought about most of the time. My writing was full of swearing, breaking of grammatical rules but I was still did pretty well in that class.
On the other end we had my buddy Raj was great at writing things in a I-just-took-a-hallucinogenic-drug-style. He could make you appreciate every moment of an experience and really pull you into a point of view.
What is Your Uncensored Voice?
So what is your uncensored voice? What does it sound and taste like? What would you say if you had no fear of failure? Express yourself below.
To learn about some of the other stuff I have learned from my life abroad, subscribe via RSS or email.
Mwangi
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10:22
Election 2008: the meanings of "history"
» Marian's Blog Over the past several months I've talked with about sixty journalists about the issues of ethnicity (which is neither colour or "race"), representation and the lack of it, and history - particularly the history of the USA and every other...
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6:54
Mergers & Rogue Employees
» KA-INVESTOR What is it with company mergers in Kenya? The recent few mergers have been faced with very gruesome legal battles that have left the merging companies with very heavy bills to foot. In the case of the Stanbic-CFC merger where Stanbic bank lost a court case and was forced to pay Ksh.532 million in fines to their former employees and Ksh.200 million in forced security to a certain creditor who will be paid once the merger is concluded.
Another merger that has run into similar trouble is the merger between Ecobank from West Africa and EABS. Ecobank is planning to take over 75% of EABS at a cost that is estimated to be worth over Ksh.1 billion. Similarly, 30% of there employees who were retrenched way back in 1996 have gone to court to block the merger from taking place before they are fully compensated.
So is this a new strategy by all former employees to sue their employers once they cite a merger in the offing? It’s widely known that many employers are shrewd when it comes to making contracts that favour the company over its employees. Like in the case of EABS where an employee who had worked for over 5 years was only entitled for 17 days compensation. What a reap-off! But it seems employees are not taking these lightly and companies are paying dearly for not having their contract tight enough.
2007 Government Funds Beneficiaries
I’ve been looking around for someone who got the youth or women’s fund or someone who know someone who benefited from these funds. It seems I’m not alone on this quest, Enterprise Kenya are also looking for these funds beneficiaries. If you applied for the youth fund or the women development fund how much did you get? Please send your answer to enterprisekenya@ktnkenya.com and also drop me a mail at kainvestor@gmail.com
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6:37
OBAMA DAY
» You Missed This I'm astonished Kumekucha, of all blogs, gave Obama's Day the blackout:)
Our brother, oh! He effectively sealed the nomination jana, totally making history. I pray that he goes on to change A-Merry-Car as it has been known for the last 232 years or so. Now, that's change I can believe in. And you thought A-Merry-Cans could teach us a thing or two about diversity at the top? Not till November this year, or is it 9th of January next year? -
Obama: This Is Our Moment
» You Missed This 
Political 'unknown' to the 1st Black-American presidential nominee in U.S. history in a space of less than four years!
Barack Obama has finally made history when last night he became the first African-American in U.S. history to clinch a major party's presidential nomination.
The 46-year-old Illinois senator defeated former first lady Hillary Clinton, a handsdown favourite at the start of the race, in the longest, most tightly contested Democratic presidential race ever. In his speech, before 17,000 supporters, while 15,000 more listened outside, he was quoted as saying: "Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," Obama whose father was a Kenyan went on to say "... This is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.
Obama, just a step away from the White House, now faces the main hard battle, against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate to become the President of the USA.
What are his chances?
Will Mrs. Clinton's supporters automatically vote Obama, whether or not she is his running mate?
What do you guys say?
Niaje chali wa mtaa?
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4:28
Interesting Views, Interesting Videos...........
» My part of the world....... Whenever people always ooh and ahh about how much they want to have kids without thinking of how much work it is and when you tell them they say you are being too serious. I picture them as the kind of parents who let society and the school system raise their kids and you end up with situations like the one in the video below. Not that I advocate how that teacher handled it but kids out here can drive you mad, just talk to a teacher here and listen to their stories; you shall be shocked.
Since I'm tearing parents a new one. I might as well lay into the parents of the girl below. Her and her grown looking ass has put 2 men in jail?! And they still let her get online and run around town late?! I for one don't condone men sleeping with underage girls at all but when a heifer like this does this on purpose I think she too has to face some punishment from the law or is she not responsible for her actions since she is a young woman? I swear before any girl out here gets some Acolyte loving she has to produce 2 forms of picture ID or no service at all!
I hope you Kenyans back home enjoyed your 3 day public holiday. For us out here it was the same old thing. Anyway I was on the net and came across an interesting cartoon about what really happens during online dating, here it is.
There are many online games nowadays and some of them other than membership, charge you extra for things that should rightly be free (especially for people like me who play the free Yahoo games). I think the video below sums it up completely. Greedy bastards....
I know some people out there on the web come across my blog while searching for somethings that I know nothing about ie Kenyan porn or nude pics of Lilian Muli/Nini Wacera/Kaz etc. I don't have those but I did find these pictures of some Kenyans caught in a sexual orgy, these pictures are very explicit; warning NSFW! Please click here, here and here. Enjoy but don't stain your keyboards.
ps: You have just been rick rolled......
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Could This Be The Reason Why Reuters Journalist Was Killed?
» You Missed This Trent Keegan may have been working on Rift Valley militia story, sources sayThe Kenyan media does not think that the murder of a Reuters journalist in Nairobi is big news. In fact most do not think it is news at all.
It will now be interesting to see if they still hold this view as some of the possible reasons for the murder begin to emerge.
Right from the start of my enquiries in the last few days, several sources have repeated that the late New Zealand born photo journalist met his death because of a story that he was working on about the Rift Valley and historical land troubles in that part of Kenya that led to the recent post-election skirmishes in the country. Now in the last few hours I have received yet another report to the effect that the journalist got into trouble specifically because of a story he was working on connected to a mysterious arms shipment into Kenya in March to a “militia group.” (Read the story here). The “shipment” has recently been reported by a UN monitoring group as one of the violations against a UN ban on arms in the region. Although the UN report does not give details of the militia group, several sources link it to the Rift Valley in Kenya. In other words the latest report shockingly seems to confirm the earlier ones by linking the arms embargo to the Rift Valley.
The most recent information from a source claims that Mr Keegan was in contact with people who were well versed with the facts surrounding the deadly cargo and its’ destination who were too frightened to publish the information themselves.
Interestingly one report that has appeared in New Zealand newspapers says that Mr Keegan received a visit from a “security company” shortly before his disappearance and subsequent death. It is highly likely that such a visit would be from a security organization monitoring the entry and movement of illegal arms in the region.
As the Kenyan media continues to give the Keegan murder a complete “blackout”, I would like to remind Kenyan journalists of an old African proverb that says when your neighbour’s chickens are attacked by a fox, you do not ignore the news as irrelevant when your homestead is right next door.
It is absurd that any journalist in the country should happily continue with “business as usual” while totally ignoring the heinous crime against one of their own that has taken place. Scribes should be out on the streets right now demonstrating and demanding an explanation from the government. But then that is my opinion.
P.S. Of all the reports that have so far appeared on this dreadful affair, the one that appears to suggest that the killing was just part of the high incidence of crime in Nairobi was the most nauseating. Despite the overwhelming evidence that suggests that this was no ordinary crime, the report went on to mention that crime is so rampant in Nairobi that many people now refer to the Kenyan capital as Nairobbery.
Check out Kasarani.com, a new way to meet and keep in touch with Kenyans worldwide. You can even start your own blog on Kasarani! Click here to go to Kasarani.com now
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0:11
Kutwa Tuesday – Post Madaraka Day
» bankelele Kutwa Tuesday – Post Madaraka Day